Cologne, Eigelstein. The Hotel Savoy is only five minutes' walk away from the former headquarters of the legendary Eigelstein Musikproduktion GmbH on Hansaring. It's the beginning of March. Arjen Lucassen sits in a cosy corner of the lobby and gives entertaining interviews. It is still almost two months until the release of "The Source". But the mechanisms of the music industry have long been running at full speed behind the scenes. This also includes the usual discussion marathon, which, after stops in Paris, London and Milan, now also takes the two-metre slag to three German cities. In the evening we take the train to Munich, from there we fly to Berlin. Nothing unusual for a musician on a PR tour, but if you know that the 57-year-old Dutchman, who likes to describe himself as a hermit, is reluctant to leave his home environment, you may ask.

Basically nobody expected a new studio album from Procol Harum any more. The last recordings were released with "The Well's On Fire" a long time ago, in the year 2003. Now "Novum", which actually comes up with some innovations: organist Matthew Fisher and lyricist Keith Reid are two original members; for the first time all Procol-Harum-musicians are involved in the songwriting; Urgestein Pete Brown is responsible for the lyrics. eclipsed spoke with singer and pianist Gary Brooker about the surprising sign of life English prog pioneers and looked back with him on 50 years of band history.

eclipsed: Of course the anniversary of Procol Harum is a wonderful occasion for a new studio album. But why have you waited so long for it anyway?

Basically, there is Ten Years After (TYA) 2017 double. On one track, drummer Ric Lee and organist Chick Churchill drive with guitarist/singer Marcus Bonfanti and bassist Colin Hodgkinson under the name Ten Years After. Although their concerts have something of a tribute band due to the two rather inconspicuous original members, Bonfantis' performance is pure passion, and ex-Alexis-Korner-/Whitesnake bassist Hodgkinson is still one of the outstanding instrumentalists in the area of tension between blues, jazz and rock. And even a Leo Lyons cannot and does not complain about such colleagues. "They're doing well already, with Colin and Marcus at the top of their game."

It has been eight years since Kairon; IRSE! was launched. Since then, the four boys have been following their own path between Shoegaze, psychedelic rock and postrock. With "Ruination" the band even went one step further: instead of relying on their improvisation skills, Kairon; IRSE! worked on new songs for two years. In a conversation with eclipsed guitarist/keyboarder Niko Lehdontie makes a bow from the beginning of the band to the current record.

eclipsed: You just released the second album with Kairon; IRSE!, but you hardly find any interviews. Why don't you tell me how your band started?

"I've been here a few years, a stone's throw from Manhattan. And that's because of a woman. How life plays," giggles the phone. This lady is called Rebecca Wilson and is a life companion, background singer, assistant and lifeline in personal union. "She was there for me when I had a stroke in 2004 and had to learn to walk and speak again. A terrible experience. It took me two years to get on my feet. Since then I have known what is important in life, namely family, friendship, good music and enjoying every day to the full."

A hotel suite in Berlin. Greg Dulli slurps an iced coffee and looks more like a university professor than a rock star with his turtleneck sweater, shirt collar, pleated trousers, short haircut and discreet overweight. Which brings a certain irony. After all, the 51-year-old is a studied historian, but (in the past) also one of the most eccentric representatives of the post-grunge generation. Today he owns four bars and enjoys life between Los Angeles and New Orleans.

eclipsed: The Whigs' last album was called "Do To The Beast". Three years later, you come up with a demon as a cover motif. What fascinates you about devils?

Greg Dulli: (laughs) You are very present, in politics, in business, wherever. Our modern civilization is dominated by beasts in human form. And when I'm on stage and a few thousand people cheer for me, I also feel diabolical - in a positive sense.

For the Big Big Train founders Greg Spawton and Andy Poole it was and is a main concern with their creative creature that the sound is constantly expanded through regular reshuffles. On the most recent work "Grimspound", as on "Folklore", a proud eight henchmen and women are at work in order to be able to implement this requirement. "Above all, they are the same creative partners as on the last album, you can talk about a kind of well-rehearsed team," says 51-year-old Spawton. "It's a lot of fun to be a member of this band like never before. Because you're always working on new ideas. Sometimes this form of uninterrupted creativity is almost spooky."

eclipsed: What's the deal with the album title "Grimspound"?

"When I first heard his new album, I thought, "Something's wrong here," laughs Mark Lanegan's bosom buddy Greg Dulli from the Afghan Whigs. "Mark sounds happy for the first time. I said to him, 'Dude, what's the matter with you?' And he said, 'I guess I'm completely satisfied with myself and the world.'" No wonder, at 52 Mark Lanegan has reached the point he always dreamed of, both professionally and privately. He is in a steady, stable relationship, renounces nicotine, alcohol and drugs, lives in a nice little house in Glendale, a bourgeois corner of Greater Los Angeles, has two dogs and two cats as child replacements and can live very well from his music.